Turbine Expansions And Turnovers 42
According to Gamespot Asheron's Call 2 players don't have long to wait before the "Legions" expansion will find its way to store shelves. The content expansion for the graphics intensive game went gold this week. Players of the original Asheron's Call will have to wait until this summer to enjoy their new content, as the expansion has been pushed back for further testing and refinement. Additionally, MMOG industry veteran Jessica Mulligan used the expansion announcements as an opportunity to mention her departure from Turbine. She hasn't publicly stated a reason for her departure, saying only that the decision is unrelated to the expansion titles. Gamasutra has an interview with Ms. Mulligan about the state of the industry up from last week. From the Gamespot article: "Legions will include a new continent, called Knorr, which will increase the size of the Asheron's Call 2 world by 30 percent. Also included in this expansion pack are new playable races (one of which is the much maligned Drudge), three new prestige classes, more than 100 new quests, and 10 new monster types."
The Delicious Continent of Knorr (Score:3, Funny)
Ah yes, the great continent of Knorr, where players can find a variety of high quality canned foods. Watch out for the fearsome Beef Broth swamps(TM) and search for the Frying Pan of the Gods(TM).
Far exceeding Sony's pizza endeavors, players will be able to order canned pasta sauce, gravy, broth, and other delicious sauces in-game and delivered to the door in 30 minutes.
More information about the mighty continent of Knorr is at www.Knorr.com [knorr.com]
(Note that this is one of those alternate-reality game sites, like www.ourcolony.net [ourcolony.net]).
100 new quests! (Score:3, Funny)
AC2 - Too little, too late (Score:2)
The thing has almost no players depending on the time of day - it has never surpassed AC in it's subscription numbers. It brought nothing new to MMORPGs except fancy graphics that most people's PCs at the time could not handle.
There might be a small spark of life when the expansions releases, but it's delaying the inevitable. AC2 will not last the year.
Re:AC2 - Too little, too late (Score:1)
Re:AC2 - Too little, too late (Score:4, Interesting)
It doesn't have this "time-wasting treadmill cycle", simply by capping the level at 20. You don't waste time "levelling", but rather in doing "quests" and gaining new skills.
The game is pretty analogous to playing a game like Magic: The Gathering, since the skills are pretty balanced, and the outcome of battles depends not on how much time you wasted "levelling", but rather on how good you play your skills strategically.
Oh and there's no monthly subscription.
Re:AC2 - Too little, too late (Score:2)
Re:AC2 - Too little, too late (Score:3, Informative)
And I would assume instanced (i.e private) maps reduce the server and network load by a lot.
btw, some of the main devs for the game are ex-blizzard, people who worked on Diablo, Warcraft (not 3) and Starcraft.
Where's Jessica going? (Score:1)
Re:Where's Jessica going? (Score:2)
Also, each item in the game had a true 3d shape when placed in the world! You start to realize that with WoW, that each 'item' is just transferrable from one inventory container to another and that you either find a 'plant inventory' and collect herbs into your pack or kill a moster and move items from the 'corpse container' into your pack: items
AC is still one of the better engines (Score:3, Interesting)
The ability to DODGE a spell or arrow is one thing I miss in EVERY OTHER game I have played. That made for enjoyable PvE and made PvP truly exceptional. Another great aspect was that damage types actually mattered as did your armor as each type of armor had resistances to each element. People would kill for armors with all above average ratings because IT MEANT something in non-magic combat. You also were not limited in character by non-sensical limitations (like no armor for mages etc
Re:AC is still one of the better engines (Score:2)
Something you also forgot to mention is that AC1 was initially developed as a pvp game first and a PvE game second.
What you are talking about in your last paragraph was the vision of *what AC2 wa
Re:Where's Jessica going? (Score:1)
On a side note, I love your work with IGN, Rosethorn!
Re:Where's Jessica going? (Score:1)
Pardon? (Score:1)
Re:Pardon? (Score:3, Informative)
AC1 expansion has been pushed back.
Two different expansions, two different outcomes.
Re:Pardon? (Score:1)
Wait AC2 is still around (Score:2)
So, does it still suck?
Turbine is foundering, did she flee a sinking ship (Score:5, Insightful)
Before Turbine and even before Themis she used to write a column called "Biting the Hand". From here she pointed out the issues in the computer gaming industry. She showed what went wrong, sometimes offered insight as to why, and also showed how most failures were simply repeats of another companies failure.
Yet her stint at Turbine seemed to be oriented towards doing everything she told others they were wrong for doing. Even after Turbine took control of both of franchises they didn't change their tune. They continued the shoddy patches, the leaving of bad exploits in game for long times, and worse actively condoned macroing in their first game AC. They even retreated to the safety of message boards they manage.
It is suspicious she left at the same time the AC1 expansion was pushed back (just 14 business days from its announced release). This all smacks of upper management removing someone (or asking ever so politely) for project mismanagement. It also may be related to a previous article she released which basically attacked a few notable people.
AC2 is effectively dead. Less than 400 people at one time play it at primetime across two servers. Stupid bugs persist from launch still that should have been quietly fixed a long time ago. Its not much fun for a new player as most new areas are simply devoid of players.
AC1 is in slightly better shape. However most of its servers barely crest 500 each. With the latest announcement that number will probably fall further. Worse the Turbine published pictures of the improved textures, no poly changes, were horrid. It was fan pictures from beta that made it look good. The whole expansion left a bad taste in many long time AC players mouths as it smacks of being a reward to those using combat macros (permitted by Turbine). The prime example are "augmentation gems" which are purchasable using experience points. For a macro character that makes them free for all intents. How are real players ever expected to compete?
AC died when Turbine favored experience gaining over the experience of playing. AC had a depth of lore not seen in a MMORPG unti WOW. Yet they sold out to the exploiters and cheaters, also know as macorers. When a game company abandons their integrity the players are not bound to respect them either, let alone pay for the game.
Good riddance Jessica. Hopefully you will take your lack of job at Turbine to get back to writing Biting the Hand and actively identifying what is wrong in the industry - including the problems you caused at Turbine. It would be best if you went back to what you were good at - analyzing from the sidelines instead of being someone in need of analysis yourself.
C.
Re:Turbine is foundering, did she flee a sinking s (Score:1, Insightful)
Turbine != AC (Score:5, Interesting)
This has no bearing on your criticism of AC at all, but as far as Turbine, DDO is their future, not AC.
Re:Turbine != AC (Score:2)
Re:Turbine != AC (Score:2)
Re:Turbine != AC (Score:1)
Re:Turbine != AC (Score:2)
Don't forget their other little-known license. You might have heard of it: Middle Earth Online. [middle-earthonline.com]
Re:Turbine is foundering, did she flee a sinking s (Score:1)
Jessica, if you're reading this... (Score:1)
She is a man.. lol (Score:1)
Re:She is a man.. lol (Score:1)
Drudges! (Score:1)
AC2 is still fatally flawed (Score:1)
Hopefully they unscrew AC1 pvp someday. (Score:1)
AC has the best PK I can imagine but it keeps getting worse and worse with turbines changes.
Alot more of the same (Score:1)
HOLY COW 100 new quests (Score:2, Interesting)
getting excited by 100 new quests seems to be as silly as getting excited by 10 new mob types... oh wait
Re:HOLY COW 100 new quests (Score:2)